I leave for the shore Sunday night...that means this all ends a week from today. Or, since it took me leaving the state of NJ for Kovy to sign in the first place, this doesn't end until I go back to college on August 18th.

Bettman's ill-advised quest to impose a one-size-fits-all cap onto 30 teams with varying needs and constituencies is in tatters. The Kovalchuk contract, which meets every legal standard outlined in the collective bargaining agreement, is merely the latest example of a powerful team acting creatively in order to keep as much of its personnel intact as possible.

This case isn't about big market vs. small market, not with the Devils ranking between 13th and 16th in league revenues, though that's the umbrella under which the commissioner fights every battle. This one is simply about Bettman stamping his feet in a temper tantrum and using his power to force a moribund NHLPA to gear up and fight a fight it may or may not be prepared to wage.

The NHL hard-cap CBA doesn't necessarily discriminate against big-market clubs, it discriminates against successful clubs. The Devils aren't good because they have a high payroll, they have a high payroll because they've been a standard of excellence since the early '90s. The same applies to franchises like Detroit and Philadelphia, teams with ownerships that desperately want to win.

the one thing i hate about this is: if they don't file the grievance, he's a UFA again, if they do but lose the arbitration, he's a UFA again. There's nothing there short of an arbitration win that lets us hold on to him without another team possibly then trying to sign him or him heading to the KHL, even though this all still does seem to be a Bettman loss in the end, just sucks there's that possibility Kovy could end up somewhere else...

the one thing i hate about this is: if they don't file the grievance, he's a UFA again, if they do but lose the arbitration, he's a UFA again. There's nothing there short of an arbitration win that lets us hold on to him without another team possibly then trying to sign him or him heading to the KHL, even though this all still does seem to be a Bettman loss in the end, just sucks there's that possibility Kovy could end up somewhere else...

kovalchuk could sign with the KHL at any time, so this process doesn't stop anything. i also don't think there's very much to worry about with another team signing him, the devils' offer blew any other non-russian offer out of the water.

If you happen to be Devils president Lou Lamoriello, you would have to like your chances if the PA takes the contract to arbitration.

Like a lenient parent, the NHL's previous tolerance for cap manipulation has moved, in a perfectly logical and possibly legal direction, to the Kovalchuk deal. The league had a chance to take a stand against Roberto Luongo's contract with the Canucks. (His 12-year extension, which expires in 2021-22, pays him $1 million each in the final two seasons, when he is 41 and 42. He makes $10 million this season.) The league could have bridled at Pronger's deal with the Flyers, which drops to $525,000 the final two years before he qualifies for unrestricted free agency in 2017-18, just prior to his 43rd birthday. Marian Hossa's deal in Chicago, $7.9 million now but $750,000 the last two years when theoretically he retires after the 2020-21 season at age 42, was even more of a stretch given the position he plays, but the NHL considered these deals merely pushing the envelope but not quite overstuffing it.

The other teams were doing 74 in a 65 mile-per-hour zone, but when the Devils did 76, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly turned on his siren and flashed his red light.

If there is not quite precedent for the Kovalchuk signing, there has been enough erosion of principles that probably places Lamoriello on the right side of the issue. This was not a 40-year deal that was going to take Kovalchuk into rarefied Gordie Howe territory, but a nudge-nudge, wink-wink deal that made an elite goal-scoring winner available at the low cap hit of $6 million annually until his presumed retirement at an age when he practically will start wanting his dinner by 4:30.

Yeah -- what he said(DiG's Farber link) I had a whole cookie jar analogy I was going to get into in the other thread but stopped myself! Whew.

Also I am stating here -- Daniel we ALL understand there is always a chance the Devils will lose if this goes to arbitration. When one person judges something the chances are always 50/50. If they lose you cannot say "As unhappy as I am, I TOLD you all there was a very real chance this would happen" We all KNOW that and always have. When the point is not made in every post it doesn't mean we need you to remind us. It doesn't mean we've missed something you've seen. No amount of speculation has merit if the decision isn't up to us. This whole board is pointless if you want to look at things that way. Fact of the matter is if the arbiter hates SCott Stevens, he's going to rule against the Devils